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Arts & Entertainment News

The Bright Light Social Hour at MOTR Tonight

Over the past few months there seemingly has been more news about concert venues in the Cincinnati area than concerts themselves. There was of course the drama that has temporarily shuttered The Southgate House in Newport which has plans to reopen the venue in some form or fashion elsewhere during 2012. Then came the news of the loss of The Mad Hatter in Covington which was a small room that hosted many up and coming acts.

Not all news has been bad though, as some of the larger venues in town have booked shows that generally pass by Cincinnati. The newly renovated Taft Theatre will be hosting Ryan Adams at the end of January, and The Black Keys have chosen US Bank Arena as a launching point for their 2012 North American tour with a show on March 3. Additionally, the historic Emery Theatre in Over the Rhine has shown signs of life with a successful fundraiser during November 2011.

While all of that drama has unfolded, MOTR Pub on Main Street has quietly been chugging along during their first 15 months of operation bringing local and national acts to the stage nightly, all the while helping to cultivate the music scene in Cincinnati. Dan McCabe, also known for his leadership with MidPoint Music Festival has breathed life into a bar and brought along with it a venue that showcases up and coming talent all without ever having a cover charge. MOTR also features a free jukebox to keep the music going even when the stage is empty.

Tonight, MOTR hosts a 2011 MPMF favorite, Austin Texas based The Bright Light Social Hour. To say that this band is a favorite of Austin is putting it lightly. They burst onto the scene with their self titled release in 2010 and managed to pick up six awards from the Austin Chronicle including band and album of the year. However high the acclaim was for the album release, their legend has truly grown since then because of their dynamic live show, and just recently The Austin Post recognized them as the best live act in Austin during 2011.

The Bright Light Social Hour brings along a sense of self-described “an unabashedly wide-screen rock group, melding fists-up rock and roll with muscular funk, soul, and psychedelia.” Add in heart, soul, and a ton of energy and you may have  a sense as to what their live show is like. You can stream their full length album and live EP here and decide for yourself. They will be taking the stage at MOTR around 10pm tonight, with of course no cover charge.

Categories
Arts & Entertainment News

VIDEO: Take an aerial tour over Cincinnati’s center city

Clay Rasmussen and Matthew Tyler Ray were producing a short film entitled Coming Attractions, and in the process were able to capture some interesting aerial footage of Cincinnati’s center city. Rasmussen, an Electronic Media student at the University of Cincinnati, says that he is interested in video and film production.

The seven-minute video starts out along the Ohio River in Newport, then circles Cincinnati’s central business district. The small helicopter then returns to the Northern Kentucky riverfront for a landing, but not before capturing some very unique video imagery of the center city.

It is not clear in the information provided as to who operated the small aircraft, but it appears that Rasmussen utilized Stratus Helicopters‘ Around The City tour, which costs just $45 per adult and last approximately seven minutes.

Categories
Business Development News Opinion

Land swap could provide Port Authority immediate economic development opportunity

Hamilton County Commissioner Chris Monzel (R) has repeatedly stated that the county should not be in the parking business. In doing so, Monzel has suggested that Hamilton County sell off its parking assets at The Banks and elsewhere in downtown Cincinnati.

An exclusive UrbanCincy analysis shows that Hamilton County currently has approximately $38.7 million worth of parking assets at The Banks sitting on land valued by the Hamilton County Auditor at $10.4 million.

At the same time, Hamilton County and leaders from the City of Cincinnati keep working to find ways to work together. One of those strategies has led to the increased investment, by both the city and county, in the Cincinnati Port Authority. The idea, officials say, is that the Port Authority could become a Cincinnati Center City Development Corporation (3CDC) equivalent at the county level.

As leaders work with the Port Authority’s new CEO, Laura Brunner, they should explore selling or trading these parking assets to parking management companies that control potentially developable land elsewhere. Five unique locations come to mind throughout downtown Cincinnati.

4th & Plum:
This lot has long sat vacant, and had been speculated for a mid-rise condominium tower within the past decade. Nothing has happened, but UrbanCincy has previously opined that this collection of two parcels would be ideal for a small dog park and residential mid-rise, or even a small park designed to accommodate public debate. The 1.71-acre piece of land is valued at $6.1 million.


View Hamilton County Land Bank Proposal in a larger map.

7th & Vine:
Two small parking lots occupy this eastern portion of Vine Street at the edge of Piatt Park, and just north of Fountain Square. The property sits within a stretch of several blocks that include restaurants, nightclubs, bars and local shops.

A residential high-rise with street-level retail would seem to be an ideal candidate for this .6-acre plot of land in the heart of the city center. Previously, UrbanCincy has suggested that this street-level space might be a perfect, and centrally located, spot for a small urban grocery store. In total, the land and its improvements are valued at approximately $2.8 million.

Central & Walnut:
This particular site is chopped up into eight different parcels with various owners, but it is also located adjacent to the Hamilton County Administrative Offices, Hamilton County Courthouse, and sits immediately on the phase one route of the Cincinnati Streetcar.

In total, the .8-acre piece of land is valued at $2.3 million and would make an ideal site for an 8-10 story structure housing either offices or residences.

Court & Walnut:
Located immediately south of the previous site, this .9-acre location is valued at $2.3 million and will also be a prime location along the new modern streetcar line connecting the central riverfront with the northern reaches of historic Over-the-Rhine.

Similar to the 9th & Walnut site, this location includes seven different parcels owned by more than one entity, and would be well-suited for the same type of development.

9th & Main:
This .28-acre site is the smallest of all those identified, but has a total value of $904,000. While the site is relatively small, it also sits right on phase one of the Cincinnati Streetcar route, and would serve as an attractive residential infill site.

In total all of the sites would account for just over one-third of the total appraised value of Hamilton County’s parking assets at The Banks. UrbanCincy proposes that the county either sell off those assets at The Banks, and use the proceeds to purchase these non-county-owned sites, or trade those assets to parking management companies for their property downtown.

This endeavor would rid the county of the parking facilities it does not wish to maintain, while also seeding the Cincinnati Port Authority with new capital and resources to use for economic development activities. The end result would also create more tax generating properties on the region’s most valuable real estate.

Categories
Business Development News

Construction to begin on $78M mixed-use development uptown

After lengthy delays, U Square at The Loop, a new mixed-use development planned for Calhoun and West McMillan streets just south of the University of Cincinnati’s campus, is finally set to begin construction in January.

For Clifton Heights, it means the largest development since University Park Apartments (UPA) was completed in the fall of 2005. But for residents, it will mean construction and traffic detours through much of 2012 that will transform a long-vacant piece of real estate into $78 million development.

The site once housed a smattering of drive-thru restaurants and a small collection of historic building stock, but was cleared in 2003 to make way for the development. The project then became entangled in a messy eminent domain case with Acropolis Chili and Inn the Wood restaurants which did not end until 2005 when UPA was completed across the street.


The $78M U Square at The Loop development is set to break ground in January 2012.

“While there is undoubtedly a lot of work converging at once, we have phased a lot of other work in prior years,” explained Clifton Heights Urban Redevelopment Corporation (CHCURC) director Matt Bourgeois in reference to various streetscaping projects, renovation of Classen Park in 2010, and construction of 65 West Apartments in 2011.

Developers anticipate groundbreaking on U Square at The Loop to take place in January 2012 on more than 150 apartments, two parking garages totaling 750 spaces, office and retail space. The final hurdle has been financing, and was finally cleared when the University of Cincinnati (UC) signed a lease on 40,000 square feet of office space for its Campus Services Department.

The lease signed by UC then triggered the signing of several retailers which had signed letters of intent on approximately nine-percent of the development’s total street-level retail space. Those retailers include DiBella’s Old Fashioned Submarines, Great Clips and Firehouse Subs.

Growing Pains
Final drawings and permit acquisition for the project are currently underway, with site excavation set to begin soon. Developers say that the project’s two blocks—one primarily office and one primarily residential—will undergo construction simultaneously, with the residential component set to begin in late February and the office component to begin in mid-April.

Though the smaller office block is expected to be complete by the end of 2012, developers do not expect the site’s residential component to be finished until July 2013. At the same time, city officials will continue streetscape improvements throughout Clifton Heights which will include two phases of work in the spring of 2012.

“Both projects are a part of the original urban renewal plan from 10-plus years ago and they are finally coming to fruition,” Bourgeois stated. “I wouldn’t discount the “growing pains” that are part of that, but I think that was to be expected and it becomes simply a matter of planning and managing a difficult scenario with the construction and maintaining good communication.”

A future phase of the development at U Square at The Loop includes the vacant “Gateway” site at Vine Street and Calhoun Street. There, a mid-rise office building is envisioned at what would become the junction between Uptown and Downtown streetcar lines.

“Our goals [set forth in the urban renewal plan] are being met and that is certainly something to celebrate,” concluded Bourgeois. “This is a continuation of that work, and another hugely positive step towards the rejuvenation of the Clifton Heights business district.”

Categories
Development News Opinion Politics Transportation

Cincinnati wants cyclists to grade city on its bicycle infrastructure and policies

The City of Cincinnati is looking for bicyclists to share their thoughts about how the city is progressing with its bicycling infrastructure and policies. From now until December 31 bicyclists can give their feedback to the Department of Transportation & Engineering (DOTE) about what would make them feel safer and use their bicycle more often.

In 2010 bicyclists gave the city an overall grade of “C” for its progress, just as they did in 2009, and city officials are hoping the feedback can help guide policy decisions to improve the atmosphere for bicycling in Cincinnati.


An on-street bicycle corral was installed on Main Street in Over-the-Rhine earlier this year.

“We’re working to create a bicycle friendly city, so that Cincinnatians of all ages and abilities can use bicycles for everyday trips,” stated DOTE director Michael Moore. “The report card survey is a great tool for publicly measuring our progress.”

This is the third year in which the city has solicited such feedback to help guide its bicycle program. Over that time the city has also worked to implement new bicycle parking and lane infrastructure, along with new policies intended to improve bicycling culture in Cincinnati.

Over the course of the past year, city officials tout the creation of a pocket-sized guide to Cincinnati’s bike laws, new sharrows on Madison Road, bike lanes on Martin Luther King Drive and Beechmont Avenue, the installation of an on-street bicycle corral on Main Street in Over-the-Rhine, and the completion of a segment of the Mill Creek Trail.

The 2011 Report Card on Bicycling survey asks respondents to grade the city on its overall facilities and policies, while also asking what directions the city should take to improve its grade. Those interested can take the survey online now. It takes approximately five minutes to complete.